Madagascarofficially Republic of Madagascar, Malagasy Madagasikara or Repoblikan’i Madagasikara, French Madagascar or République de Madagascarisland country lying off the southeastern coast of Africa. It occupies Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, after Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo. Located in the southwestern Indian Ocean, it is separated from the African coast by the 250-mile- (400-kilometre-) wide Mozambique Channel.In spite of Madagascar’s proximity to the continent, its Although located some 250 miles (400 km) from the African continent, Madagascar’s population is primarily related not to African peoples but rather to those of Indonesia, more than 3,000 miles (4,800 km) to the east. The Malagasy peoples, moreover, do not consider themselves to be Africans, but, because of the continuing bond with France that resulted from former colonial rule, the island has developed political, economic, and cultural links with the French-speaking countries of western Africa. French and Malagasy are the country’s official languages.Madagascar remains a geographic and historical paradox, linked in practice to Africa but identified in feeling with Indonesia, which is so far away as to have hardly any awareness of Madagascar or to maintain any contemporary ties of substance with it. The animal life and vegetation of the island are equally anomalous, differing greatly from that of nearby Africa and being , in many respects , unique. Although the coastlands have been known to Europeans for more than 400 years and to Arabs for much longer, recent historical development has been more intense and concentrated in the central plateau, which contains the capital city of Antananarivo (formerly Tananarive).The road network and communications are generally better on the plateau, where the majority of the inhabitants have received some school education and are professing Christians, while in the coastal areas the majority follow traditional religions and generally have not attended school.

The landLand

Madagascar is located in the southwestern Indian Ocean and is separated from the African coast by the 250-mile- (400-km-) wide Mozambique Channel.

Relief

Madagascar consists of three parallel longitudinal zones—the central plateau, the coastal strip in the east, and the zone of low plateaus and plains in the west.

Situated between 2,500 and 4,500 feet (800 and 1,400 metres) above sea level, the plateau has been uplifted and worn down several times and is tilted to the west. Three massifs are more than 8,500 feet (2,600 metres) high. The Tsaratanana region in the north is separated from the rest of the plateau by the Tsaratanana Massif, whose summitat an elevation of , Maromokotro, reaches 9,436 feet (2,876 metres) and is the highest point on the island. Ankaratra Massif in the centre is an enormous volcanic mass whose summit, Tsiafajavona, is 8,668 feet 671 feet (2,643 metres) high. Ankaratra is a major watershed divide separating three main river basins. Farther south, Andringitra is a vast granite massif north of Tôlan̈aro (Faradofay); it rises to 8,720 feet (2,658 metres) at Boby Peak.

The plateau slopes more regularly with some regularity toward the extreme southern plain, but its boundaries to the east and west are more abrupt. To the east it descends in a sharp fault, by vertical steps of 1,000 to 2,000 feet (300 to 600 metres). This cliff, which is called the Great Cliff or the Cliff of Angavo, is often impassable and is itself bordered by the Betsimisaraka Escarpment, a second and lower cliff to the east, which overhangs the coastal plain. Behind the scarp face are the remains of ancient lakes, including one called Alaotra. To the south the two steep gradients meet and form the Mahafaly and the Androy plateaus, which overhang the sea in precipitous cliffs. Toward the west the descent is made in a series of steps. In places, however, However, in places the central plateau is bordered by an impassable escarpment, such as the Cliff of Bongolava in the west-central part of the island. To the extreme north the plateau is bordered by the low belt of the Ambohitra Mountains, which include a series of volcanic craters.

The coastal strip has an average width of about 30 miles (50 km). It is a narrow alluvial plain that terminates in a low coastline bordered with lagoons linked together by the Pangalanes (Ampangalana) Canal, which is some 400 miles more than 370 miles (600 km) long. To the south of Farafangana the coast becomes rocky, and in the southeast there occur many little bays. To the northeast is the deep Bay of Antongil (Antongila).

The western zone is between 60 and 125 miles (100 and 200 km) wide. Its sedimentary layers slope toward the Mozambique Channel and produce a succession of hills. The inland (eastern) side of these steep hills dominates the hollows formed in the soft sediments of the interior, while the other side descends to the sea in rocky slopes. The coastline is straight, bordered by small dunes and fringed with mangroves. The currents in the Mozambique Channel have favoured the offshore deposit of alluvium and the growth of river deltas. On the northwestern coast there are a number of estuaries and bays. This coast is bordered by coral reefs and volcanic islands, such as Nosy Be (Nossi-Bé), which protects Ampasindava Bay.

Drainageand soilsDrainage

The steep eastern face of the plateau is drained by numerous short, torrential rivers, such as the Mandrare, the Mananara, the Faraony, the Ivondro, and the Maningory, which discharge either into the coastal lagoons or directly into the sea over waterfalls and rapids.

They include the Mandrare, the Mananara, the Faraony, the Ivondro, and the Maningory.

The more gently sloping western side of the plateau is crossed by longer and larger rivers, including the Onilahy, the Mangoky, the Tsiribihina, and the Betsiboka, which bring huge deposits of fertile alluvium down into the vast plains and many-channeled estuaries; the river mouths, while not completely blocked by this sediment, are studded with numerous sandbanks.

There are many lakes of volcanic origin on the island, such as Lake Itasy. Alaotra is the last surviving lake of the eastern slope. Lake Tsimanampetsotsa, near the coast south of Toliara (formerly Tuléar), is a large body of saline water that has no outlet.

Soils

The central plateau and the eastern coast are mainly composed of gneiss, granite, quartz, and other crystalline rock formations. The gneiss decomposes into red murrum, laterite, and deeper and more fertile red earths, giving Madagascar its colloquial name

of

the Great Red Island. Fertile alluvial soils in the valleys support intensive cultivation. There also are scattered volcanic intrusions that produce fertile but easily erodible soils. Lake Alaotra is a large sedimentary pocket in the central plateau containing some of the island’s most productive farmland. The western third of the island consists entirely of deposits of sedimentary rock, giving rise to soils of medium to low fertility.

Climate

The hot, wet season extends from November to April and the cooler, drier season from May to October. The climate is governed by the combined effects of the moisture-bearing southeast trade and northwest monsoon winds as they blow across the central plateau. The trade winds, which blow throughout the year, are strongest from May to October. The east coast is to the windward and receives has a high annual rate of precipitation, reaching nearly 150 inches (3,800 millimetresmm) at Maroantsetra on the Bay of Antongil. As the winds cross the plateau, they lose much of their humidity, causing only drizzle and mists on the plateau itself and leaving the west in a dry rain shadow. The southwest in particular is almost desert, with the dryness aggravated by a cold offshore current.

The monsoon, bringing rain to the northwest coast of Madagascar and the plateau, is most noticeable during the hot, humid season. The wind blows obliquely onto the west coast, which receives a moderate amount of precipitation annually; the southwest, which is protected, remains arid. Annual rainfall precipitation drops from 83 inches about 80 inches (about 2,000 mm) on the northwestern island of Nosy Be to 37 inches about 40 inches (1,000 mm) at Maintirano on the west coast to about 14 inches (360 mm) at Toliara in the southwest. The plateau receives moderate rainslevels of precipitation, with 53 inches about 50 inches (1,200 mm) falling annually at both Antananarivo and 48 inches at Fianarantsoa, which lies about 200 miles (320 km) farther south.

July is the coolest month, with mean monthly temperatures around the island ranging from a low of about 50 °F (10 °C) to a high of about 78 °F (26 °Cthe low 50s F (low 10s C) to the high 70s F (mid-20s C), and December is the hottest month, with temperatures between 61 and 84 °F (16 and 29 °Cthe low 60s and mid-80s F (mid 10s and high 20s C). Temperatures generally decrease with elevation, being highest on the northwest coast and lowest on the plateau.

Tropical cyclones are an important climatic feature. They form far out over the Indian Ocean, especially from December to March, and approach the eastern coast, bringing torrential rains and destructive floods.

Plant and animal life

Much of the island was once covered with evergreen and deciduous forest, but little now remains except on the eastern escarpment and in scattered pockets in the west. The plateau is particularly denuded and suffers seriously from erosion. The forest has been cut in order to clear rice fields, to obtain fuel and building materials, and to export valuable timber , such as ebony, rosewood, and sandalwood. About seven-eighths of the island is covered with prairie grasses and bamboo or small thin trees. There also are screw pines, palms, and reeds on the coasts. In the arid south of the island grow thorn trees, giant cacti, dwarf baobab trees, pachypodium succulents, and other xerophytes (drought-resistant plants) that are peculiar to the island.

Because of the island’s isolation, many zoologically primitive primates have survived and evolved into unique forms. About 40 species of lemurs are indigenous to Madagascar. Several unique hedgehoglike insectivores, such as the tenrec, have evolved there, and there are also many kinds and sizes of chameleons of varying size. Birds are numerous and include guinea fowlsfowl, partridges, pigeons, herons, ibis, flamingos, egrets, cuckoos, Asian robins, and several kinds of birds of prey. There are about 800 species of butterflybutterflies, many moths, and a variety of spiders. The only large or dangerous animals are the crocodiles, which occupy the rivers. The snakes, including the do, which is 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 metres) in length, are harmless.

Inland waters contain tilapia (an edible perchlike fish), rainbow trout, and black bass. Marine fish and crustaceans abound on the coasts and in the lagoons, estuaries, and even in some upland streams. They include groupers, giltheads, tuna, sharks, sardines, whitings, crayfish, crabs, shrimps, mussels, and oysters. The coelacanth, referred to as a living fossil and once thought extinct for millions of years, inhabits offshore waters.

Settlement patterns

Despite the importance of intensive rice cultivation, the land is used primarily for pastoral purposes. Cattle are kept in all parts of the island. Fewer are found in the dense forest areas of the eastern escarpment, but elsewhere pastoralism predominates, most often coexisting with the cultivation of subsistence crops. On the plateau, the valley floors and irrigable slopes are mainly used for growing rice. The forest peoples traditionally grew hill rice, after cutting and burning the forest; this practice continues, although it is discouraged by the government, which promotes the establishment of permanent irrigated rice fields.

The older villages of the Merina and Betsileo were often perched on hilltops and defended by huge ditches. Today, villages have been rebuilt on lower ground, and hamlets and homesteads are scattered over the landscape. On the plateau, cattle enclosures are built of stone walls; the landscape is also dotted with funerary monuments, which take the form of beautifully carved wooden posts.

Small towns began to develop at the administrative centres of the island’s several kingdoms at least by the 18th century. The most populous cities are Antananarivo, in the central plateau; Mahajanga (formerly Majunga), on the northwest coast; Fianarantsoa, in the southern plateau; Toamasina (formerly Tamatave), on the east coast; Antsiranana, in the north; Toliara, in the southwest; and Antsirabe, south of Antananarivo, mainly a tourist centre.

Racial or economic separation is not noticeable in the older cities such as Antananarivo and Fianarantsoa, but the newer towns are often divided into socioeconomic sectors. Because of recent internal migration, most of the cities are composed of a mixture of ethnic groups.

The peoplePopulation groupsPeople

Madagascar has been inhabited by human beings for the relatively short period of

only

about 1,300 years. Language and culture point unequivocally to Indonesian origins, but there is no empirical evidence of how, why, or by what route the first settlers came to the island.

Studies

Although studies of the winds and currents of the Indian Ocean indicate that the voyage from Indonesia could have been made

. It is assumed that the original peopling of the island, however sparse, was accomplished by a single cultural group, probably as the result of a single voyage.There is also widespread evidence from

, there is considerable controversy about the nature of the journey. Some scholars argue that the first settlers came directly from Indonesia, possibly in a single voyage, and that the African elements found in the population and its culture were added later, as the result of migration and the slave trade. Others suggest that the peopling of the island was the result of several voyages that proceeded along the coast of India, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa and that the population that settled the island was already mixed.

There is also widespread evidence—from linguistics, archaeology, and

tradition of

tradition—of influence from Afro-Arab settlers on the coasts before

AD

1000 CE. There is slighter evidence of an Indian influence in vocabulary, but there is no trace of Hinduism in Malagasy culture

and

. Evidence of

orthodox

Sunni Islam appears only in later coastal settlements.

The inhabitants of Madagascar speak Malagasy, which, written in the Latin alphabet, is a standardized version of Merina, an Austronesian language. Although there are numerous local variations of Malagasy, they are all mutually intelligible. French is also widely spoken and is officially recognized. It is used as a medium of instruction, especially in the upper grade levels, as is Malagasy.

The population is Ethnic groups

More than nine-tenths of the population is Malagasy, which is divided into about 20 ethnic groups, the . The largest and most dominant of which the groups is the Merina people, who are scattered throughout the island. The name Merina (Imerina) is said to mean Elevated People, deriving from the fact that they lived on the plateau. The second largest group is the Betsimisaraka (The Inseparable Multitude), who live generally in the east. The third most numerous group is the Betsileo (The Invincible Multitude), who inhabit the plateau around Fianarantsoa. Other important peoples are the Tsimihety (Those Who Do Not Cut Their Hair); , the Sakalava (People of the Long Valley); , the Antandroy (People of the Thorn Bush); , the Tanala (People of the Forest); , the Antaimoro (People of the Banks); , and the Bara (a name of uncertain origin). Smaller groups are the Antanosy (People of the Island); , the Antaifasy (People of the Sand); , the Sihanaka (People of the Lake); , the Antakarana (People of the Rocks); , the Betanimena (People of the Red Soil), who are now largely absorbed by the Merina; , the Bezanozano (Those with Many-Braided Hair); , and the Mahafaly (Those Who Make Taboos). These ethnic names do not stand for clear-cut cultural boundaries, for in many cases one group fades shades imperceptibly into another. Moreover, the conventional translations are by no means reliable, and most of the names themselves are of somewhat recent origin, probably crystallized and rigidified by the exigencies of colonial administration more than by the realities of indigenous culture. In no sense are these groups to be regarded as “tribes,” a concept now considered invalid, nor are they composed of clans, but rather, in most cases, of many cases these people represent endogamous and often non-unilinear descent groups.About half of the population has been converted to Christianity, which is about equally divided between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. A sizable community of Muslims also is found in the northwest. The rest of the people continue to practice their

Languages

Most inhabitants of Madagascar speak Malagasy, the national language. Although Madagascar is located geographically close to Bantu-speaking Africa, Malagasy—which is written in the Latin alphabet—is a standardized version of Merina, an Austronesian language. Nevertheless, there are a number of Bantu words in the language, as well as some phonetic and grammatical modifiers of Bantu origin. There exist numerous local variations of Malagasy, all of which are mutually intelligible, and Bantu elements, which exist in every dialect, appear to have been established for some time. French is also widely spoken and is officially recognized. It is used as a medium of instruction, especially in the upper grade levels, as is Malagasy. English, although not widely spoken, is also recognized as an official language. Comorian is spoken among a sizable community of immigrants from Comoros.

Religion

Some two-fifths of the population practice traditional religion, which is based upon ancestor worship. The dead are buried in tombs and are believed to reward or punish the living. There is a supreme being called Zanahary (the Creator) or Andriamanitra (the Fragrant One). There is also a belief in local spirits, and a complex system of taboos constrains traditional Malagasy life.

Demography

More than 95 percent of the population is Malagasy. The major foreign communities are French, Comorian, Indian and Pakistani, and Chinese. Births greatly outnumber deaths, and the population is growing at a relatively rapid rate. Government policy, however, opposes any form of population control. One-half of the population, moreover, is under age 17, portending continued high growth rates well into the 21st century.

Emigration of the French, Comorians, Indians and Pakistanis, and Chinese Almost half of the population is Christian, with more than one-fourth of the population adherent to Protestantism and about one-fifth to Roman Catholicism. Conversion to Christianity has not eliminated the observation of traditional religious rites, however, particularly those involving the dead. A significant community of Sunni Muslims is found in the northwest.

Settlement patterns

Despite the importance of intensive rice cultivation, the land is used primarily for pastoral purposes. Cattle are kept in all parts of the island; although fewer are found in the dense forest areas of the eastern escarpment, elsewhere pastoralism predominates, most often in coexistence with the cultivation of subsistence crops. On the plateau the valley floors and irrigable slopes are mainly used for growing rice. The forest peoples traditionally grew hill rice, after cutting and burning the forest; this practice continues, although it is discouraged by the government, which promotes the establishment of permanent irrigated rice fields.

The older villages of the Merina and Betsileo were often perched on hilltops and defended by huge ditches. Today, villages have been rebuilt on lower ground, and hamlets and homesteads are scattered over the landscape. On the plateau, cattle enclosures are built of stone walls; the landscape is also dotted with funerary monuments, which take the form of beautifully carved wooden posts.

Small towns began to develop at the administrative centres of the island’s several kingdoms at least by the 18th century. Antananarivo, Fianarantsoa, and Toamasina, three of Madagascar’s oldest cities, predate French rule. The most populous cities are Antananarivo, in the central plateau; Mahajanga (formerly Majunga), on the northwest coast; Fianarantsoa, in the southern plateau; Toamasina (formerly Tamatave), on the east coast; Antsiranana, in the north; Toliara, in the southwest; and Antsirabe, south of Antananarivo, mainly a tourist centre. Antananarivo is by far the most populous of these; perched on two precipitous mountain ridges, the old part of the city is dominated by the ruins of the Queen’s Palace (Manjakamiadana) and has an extremely picturesque, almost medieval appearance. Owing to internal migration, most cities are composed of a mixture of ethnic groups, although people from the same areas of the island tend to settle in the same neighbourhoods; immigrants, such as those from Comoros, follow a similar pattern.

Demographic trends

The major foreign communities are French, Comorian, Indian and Pakistani, and Chinese, although emigration in the late 20th century has significantly reduced their populations. There has been , however, no significant emigration of Malagasy peoples abroad.

Births greatly outnumber deaths and are well above the world average. The population is growing at a relatively rapid rate, and more than two-fifths of the population is under age 15, portending continued high growth rates well into the 21st century. Life expectancy for both men and women in Madagascar is below the world average.

The eastern part of the central plateau is the region of highest population density , and contains almost all the major cities and towns. The eastern coastal plain has the second highest density. The eastern forest zone and the northeastern coast densities vary but rank as the next most densely populated regions. Most of the western two-thirds of the country is sparsely inhabited.

The eastern half of the island contains almost all the major cities and towns. Antananarivo is the most populous city; perched on two precipitous mountain ridges, the old part of the city is dominated by the Manjakamiadana palace and has an extremely picturesque, almost medieval appearance.

The economyThe

Social and economic divisions

Malagasy society was traditionally divided into three heredity-based classes—the nobles, the freemen, and the former slaves and their descendants. These social distinctions are no longer strict and are manifest only on ceremonial occasions, such as weddings and funerals. They do, however, form the basis of other economic and social distinctions. During the 19th century the Merina elite conquered the island, established themselves as rulers, and adopted Protestant Christianity; in the late 1800s some became Roman Catholics. Under French rule in the 20th century, the Merina retained their supremacy in education, business, and the professions, while the remainder of the population retained its sense of “difference” from the dominant peoples, and some adopted Roman Catholicism.

A further distinction is made between the peoples of the plateau and those of the coast. The coastal peoples, who are called côtiers, long felt deprived of the education, power, and wealth that is concentrated on the plateau. Since independence the government has been composed primarily of côtiers, and a conscious effort has been made to keep the Merina elite of the plateau from power. One of the difficulties of the government of Pres. Albert Zafy (1993–96) was that it was dominated by Merina, thereby tipping the delicate balance established under previous regimes. The move toward federalism, begun with the constitutional revision of 1998, was in part the result of the desire to reduce the powers of the central government, should this situation arise again.

Economy

Before 1972 the government had established producers’ cooperatives, which collected and processed most of the rice crop (at prices that were bitterly resented by the peasants); state farms, intended to increase the commercial production of rice, cattle, coffee, oil palm, cotton, and silk; a rural development program; and a national consumers’ cooperative with retail shops located in most towns.

The control of Madagascar’s economy by France, which had taken received nearly half of the island’s exports and supplied more than half of its imports, ended following with the changes in government that occurred during the turbulent years of 1972–75. CurrencyWhereas currency, banking, finance, loans, and economic planning had been influenced by accords with France and by French personnel in government, commerce, and technical assistance. After 1972–75 aid came from new sources, including the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, and North Korea, but most continued to come from France, other Western countries, and Japan.

Resources

The Great Red Island disappointed those who hoped to discover precious metals in large quantities. Considerable small-scale gold mining was conducted toward the end of the 19th century, by both French and Malagasy prospectors. There is a wide variety of semiprecious stones, but deposits are not of significant economic importance. Mineral deposits include chromite, which is found north of Antananarivo and in the southeast at Ranomena; ilmenite (titanium ore), found on the southeast coast at Tôlan̈aro, a source thought to represent the world’s largest reserve of titanium; low-grade iron ore, found in scattered deposits in the southern half of the island; low-grade coal north of Toliara and inland from Besalampy; nickel near Fianarantsoa; and copper north of Ampanihy and near Ambilobe. There also are smaller deposits of zircon, monazite, bauxite, lead, graphite, quartzite, jasper, gold, uranothorianite, bentonite, kaolin, and alunite. The various gems include garnet, amethyst, tourmaline, beryl, and columbite.

The eastern evergreen forest and the scattered remnants of deciduous forest are valuable for their timber. Except for fish and crustaceans, the indigenous animal life is of little economic importance. Domestic animals include the humped zebu (cattle of Asiatic derivation, doubtless brought from Africa), of great religious importance; goats; fat-tailed sheep; dogs; poultry; and pigs.

Although there are many narrow valleys and magnificent waterfalls, especially on the eastern escarpment, only a small number of them have been harnessed for electric power generation. Hydroelectric power stations provide about two-thirds of the country’s electricity requirements; the remainder is supplied by coal-burning thermal stations. Many mines and factories also generate their own electricity with diesel- or steam-powered generators. Bituminous shales have been discovered at Bemolanga, oil at Tsimiroro, and natural gas off the coast of Morondava. The development of these resources remains commercially questionable, however.

the emergent military regime replaced the already constrained free-trade economy with one whose goal was to achieve “a socialist paradise under divine protection” by the year 2000. Nationalization made state corporations out of foreign firms, transforming the five French banks into three state banks for agriculture, industry, and trade. In addition, foreign insurance companies were converted into two state insurance corporations, and state monopolies were formed for import-export trading and shipping and for the textile, cotton, and power industries, as well as for the new agencies created for the extension of irrigation.

The economy responded with a relentless decline. Exports fell, inflation rose, and debt was significantly expanded. Debt services took more than half of the country’s export earnings, and imports nearly ceased for lack of foreign exchange. Industrial production fell to a quarter of the 1975 level, and foreign investment declined to almost nothing, while devaluation deeply reduced the value of the Malagasy franc. Under these adverse conditions the country’s infrastructure and social services deteriorated greatly. The rural population was reduced to subsistence levels, bartering with cattle and bags of paddy. Bankrupt by 1982, the country was forced to adopt a program of structural adjustment imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and face a humiliating turnabout to re-liberalize the economy. Abolition of the state monopolies was accepted, and any state enterprise that could not pay its way was threatened with privatization. Private business took years to regain any confidence, however.

The relationship with the IMF and the World Bank continued to be crucial to the Malagasy economy and important in its politics. Although Pres. Didier Ratsiraka (1976–93, 1997–2002) agreed to begin the process of privatization of state-controlled industries and enterprises in the 1980s, he did so slowly, and often to the benefit of those with political connections. Relations with the international financial institutions became even more difficult in the period immediately before and during Zafy’s period in office. Aid had been suspended in 1991, and, unwilling or unable to accept the IMF’s conditions for the resumption of aid, Zafy unsuccessfully sought private sources of investment. Zafy’s impeachment in 1996 led to the creation of an interim government that was able to reach agreement with the IMF, and the subsequent return of Ratsiraka, newly converted to the free market, was greeted with satisfaction. Programs initiated under the presidency of Marc Ravalomanana were also well received, and in 2004 the IMF and World Bank announced that about half of Madagascar’s debt was to be written off.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

Rice occupies the largest share of the total crop acreage. Many varieties of dry, wet, and irrigated rice are grown in the central plateau; dry rice is also grown in the eastern forests and wet rice in the lower river valleys and along the estuaries, mainly by populations who migrated from overpopulated parts of the plateau. Costly imports are still required.

Slash-and-burn techniques (the temporary clearance of land for agriculture) are used in the escarpment forest and along the east coast for temporary clearance of land for agriculture. In the river valleys of the west, cultivation is permanent; irrigation techniques are heavily utilized.

Sugarcane is grown on plantations in the northwest, around Mahajanga, and on the east coast near Toamasina. Cassava (manioc) is a staple grown all over the island, and potatoes and yams are cultivated mainly in the highland region of Ankaratra. Bananas are produced commercially on the east coast, and corn (maize) is grown mainly on the central plateau, in the south, and in the west. Fruits grown include apples, grapefruits, avocado pearsavocados, plums, grapes, oranges, litchis, pineapples, guavas, pawpawspapayas, passion fruits, and bananas. Robusta coffee is grown on the east coast and arabica coffee on the plateau. Other significant crops are beans, peanuts (groundnuts), pois du cap (lima beans), coconuts, pepper, vanilla, cacao, sisal, raffia, tobacco, copra, cotton, and castor beans.

Cattle (mainly zebu) are distributed throughout the island. The large Large numbers of pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys are found mainly on the plateau. The hoarding accumulation of cattle as a sign of wealth and for use in religious sacrifice has frustrated government efforts to increase the use of cattle for domestic meat consumption and for export.

A significant area of the forest is degraded (i.e., regenerated after repeated burnings, with many original species lost and smaller, fewer, less valuable species prevalentreplaced by more-ubiquitous vegetation); the rest is wet or dry tropical forest. Major reforestation efforts have been undertaken, but, with about 80 percent more than four-fifths of domestic fuel needs supplied by wood and charcoal, the country’s total forested area continues to decline drastically.

Fisheries are poorly developed and depend mostly on small traditional fishing communities on the west coast; production is badly adjusted to the island’s needs and to the potential market. In the late 20th century, however, the industrialization of marine fishing was begun, and rivers, lakes, and irrigated rice fields were stocked with breeding fish. The inshore waters are fished, while the distant offshore waters are neglected; inland distribution of the fish caught is poor, except in main towns. The bulk of the catch is composed of fresh fish and crustaceans; some fish are dried. There is also Madagascar’s waters are rich in marine wildlife, including a variety of fish, shellfish, and crustaceans. The country’s industrialized fisheries sector has experienced great expansion, and the export of shrimp and prawns in particular provides a significant source of revenue. Illegal fishing remains problematic, however, and Madagascar largely lacks the resources to combat the issue. Overfishing also threatens the sector, although fish farming—especially along the western coast—has been increasingly developed as an alternative. There is considerable raising of fish in the irrigated rice fields, mainly for home consumption.

IndustryMining and quarrying are little developed. The most important products are graphite, mica, monazite, quartz, Resources and power

Considerable small-scale gold mining was conducted toward the end of the 19th century, by both French and Malagasy prospectors; those who hoped to discover precious metals in large quantities there, however, were largely disappointed. There is a wide variety of gems and semiprecious stones, including garnet, amethyst, salttourmaline, and chromite. Less valuable amounts of gold, tourmaline, citrine, beryl, ilmenite, columbite, zircon, and jasper are produced as well. Merina jewelers polish and set semiprecious stones at small workshops in most of the towns of the plateau.The country’s manufacturing consists mainly of rice mills and small industrial establishments. More than half of the manufacturing is located in and around Antananarivo. Products include wood, paper pulp, cotton cloth, beryl, and the discovery of sapphires in Madagascar in the late 1990s was especially significant: by the beginning of the 21st century, about half of the world’s sapphires were mined in Madagascar.

Mineral deposits include chromite, which is found north of Antananarivo and in the southeast at Ranomena; ilmenite (titanium ore), found on the southeast coast at Tôlan̈aro, a source thought to represent one of the world’s largest reserves of titanium; low-grade iron ore, found in scattered deposits in the southern half of the island; and low-grade coal, north of Toliara and inland from Besalampy. Nickel and cobalt are mined at Toamasina; the mine, opened in 2007, is among the largest in the world. Nickel is also extracted near Fianarantsoa. Copper is mined north of Ampanihy and near Ambilobe. Madagascar also contains smaller deposits of zircon, monazite, bauxite, lead, graphite, quartzite, jasper, gold, uranothorianite, bentonite, kaolin, columbite, and alunite.

Although there are many narrow valleys and magnificent waterfalls, especially on the eastern escarpment, only a small number of them have been harnessed for electric power generation. Hydroelectric power stations provide more than two-thirds of the country’s electricity requirements; the remainder is supplied by coal-burning thermal stations. Many mines and factories also generate their own electricity with diesel- or steam-powered generators. Bituminous shales have been discovered at Bemolanga, oil at Tsimiroro, and natural gas off the coast of Morondava.

Manufacturing

The country’s manufacturing industry processes products such as textiles and footwear, wood, paper pulp, fertilizer, oils, soap, sugar, cigarettes and tobacco, sisal rope and mats, bricks, processed foods, and beverages. A small printing industry and several motor-vehicle assembly plants are also located there.

Finance and trade

beer, cement, and foods and beverages. Industrial centres are located mainly in and around Antananarivo, Antsirabe, and Toamasina. Merina jewelers polish and set semiprecious stones at small workshops in most of the towns of the plateau.

Finance

The official currency is the ariary, which replaced the Malagasy franc in 2003. Prior to that, the Malagasy franc had replaced the CFA (Communauté Financière Africaine) franc in 1963, and Madagascar was a member of the Franc Zone until 1973. The Central Bank issues all currency.The value of exports

Trade and services

Export revenue is derived mainly chiefly from coffee, cloves and clove oilclothing and textiles, vanilla, sisalcloves, raffia, sugar, rice, pepper, tobacco, peanuts, and petroleum products. Despite their variety, many of these, like coffee, cloves, vanilla, and sisal, are fish and shellfish, and various food products. Some agricultural exports, particularly cloves and vanilla, have been threatened by world overproduction or by the manufacture of synthetic substitutes. Imports include crude petroleum, chemical and metal products, machinery and equipment, vehicles, electrical equipment, cotton textiles and other basic manufactures, and essential foods . After 1972, and live animals. Although trade with France fell sharply after 1972, although France remains Madagascar’s main trading partner. Other important trading partners include the United States, Germany, Japan, and Italy.

Administration of the economy

Before 1972 the government had established producers’ cooperatives, which collected and processed most of the rice crop (at prices that were bitterly resented by the peasants); state farms intended to increase the commercial production of rice, cattle, coffee, oil palms, cotton, and silk; a rural development program; and a national consumers’ cooperative with retail shops located in most towns.

After a period of prolonged domestic turbulence from 1972 to 1975, a new emergent military regime replaced the already constrained free-trade economy with one whose goal was to achieve “a socialist paradise under divine protection” by the year 2000. Nationalization made state corporations out of foreign firms, transforming the five French banks into three state banks for agriculture, industry, and trade. In addition, foreign insurance companies were converted into two state insurance corporations, and state monopolies were formed for import-export trading and shipping and for the textile, cotton, and power industries, as well as for the new agencies created for the extension of irrigation.

The economy responded with a relentless decline. Exports fell, inflation rose, and debt expanded from $89 million in 1970 to $250 million in 1978 and $3.3 billion in 1988. Debt services took more than half of the country’s export earnings, and imports nearly ceased for lack of foreign exchange. Industrial production fell to a quarter of the 1975 level, and foreign investment declined to almost nothing. Devaluation reduced the value of the Malagasy franc by 80 percent. Under these adverse conditions the country’s infrastructure and social services deteriorated greatly. The rural population was reduced to subsistence levels, bartering with cattle and bags of paddy. By 1982 the country was technically bankrupt, forced to adopt a program of structural adjustment imposed by the International Monetary Fund and face a humiliating turnabout to reliberalize the economy. Abolition of the state monopolies was accepted, and any state enterprise that could not pay its way was threatened with privatization. Private business took years to regain any confidence, however.

Taxation is mainly indirect and is derived largely from various customs, import and export duties, and excise taxes. Direct taxes take the form of taxes on company income, registration fees, stamp duties, and personal taxes; the latter bear heavily on the peasants.

Madagascar’s unique biodiversity and rich cultural heritage have the potential to form the foundation of a thriving tourism industry. In the late 1980s the Malagasy government introduced a program designed to encourage tourism to the country, and progress has been made, with tourist arrivals to Madagascar—though interrupted by the political conflict of the 2001 election—on the increase.

Labour and taxation

Most union members hold office jobs or work in industry. A popular Popular and extensive trade union is unions include the Union Fédération des Syndicats Autonomes des Travailleurs de Madagascar, but the Sendika Kristianina Malagasy (Christian Confederation of Malagasy Trade Unions)claims more affiliated unions. The main employers’ association is , and the Union des Syndicats d’Intérêt Économique Autonomes de Madagascar.

Tax revenue is derived mainly from trade taxes, taxes on domestic goods and services, and tax applied to corporate income and profit; income derived from property tax is the least significant. Tax collection and revenue are generally quite centralized, and tax evasion remains a significant problem in Madagascar. At the beginning of the 21st century, the proportion of Madagascar’s income derived from tax revenue was quite low, and increasing revenue in order to reduce Madagascar’s ongoing dependence on aid remained an important goal.

Transportation and telecommunications

Transport facilities serve primarily the plateau and the east coast. Facilities are rudimentary less developed on the western half of the island, although the country’s best natural harbours are located there.

The majority of roads are unpaved. Roads down the eastern escarpment and across the western coastal strip, as well as minor roads everywhere, become impassable during the wet season. The main paved road runs south from Antananarivo to Fianarantsoa, where it branches include those that head southwest to Toliara, southeast to Tôlan̈aro via Ihosy, and east to Mananjary and Manakara. Paved There are also paved roads that run east from Antananarivo toward Toamasina, west to Analavory, and north to Mahajanga and Antsiranana.

Two railways connect Railways include those connecting the plateau with the east coast; they , which run from Antananarivo to Toamasina and from Fianarantsoa to Manakara. Plateau routes ; plateau routes include those that run from Antananarivo south to Antsirabe, to Fianarantsoa, and north to Ambatondrazaka.

The main port is Two main ports are located at Toamasina, which has a fine deepwater harbour equipped with quay berths and directly linked to Antananarivo by rail, air service, and road. , and at Mahajanga, which is second in importancebut is accessible only to small ships of shallow draft; it has considerable dhow traffic with the Comoros. Antsiranana has . The port at Toamasina has been badly damaged on several occasions by the cyclones that intermittently strike the island.

Although remote from the main centres of economic activity, the harbour at Antsiranana is one of the finest natural harbours in the worldbut is as yet too remote from the main centres of economic activity; it contains the former French naval base, arsenal, and dry dock and also has a small commercial port. The coastal lagoons and swamps of the Pangalanes Canal on the east coast, which are linked by artificial channels where necessary, provide a waterway that is 434 more than 370 miles (698 kilometres600 km) long.

Airfields Numerous airfields are found throughout the island, aiding domestic travel across the sizable and difficult landscape. The main international airport is at Ivato, near Antananarivo, and some international flights make secondary landings at Toamasina, Nosy Be, and Mahajanga. Air Madagascar provides internal service; its international flights are supplemented by those of several foreign airlines.

Administration and social conditions

Government

domestic and international service, as do other airlines.

Although Madagascar’s telephone service is considered to be better than the regional average, overall only a small proportion of Malagasy have access to landline or mobile telephone service. Internet access is mainly limited to urban areas.

Government and society

Constitutional framework

The Malagasy Republic became independent in 1960, after a brief period as an autonomous republic in the French Community from 1958(see History). Between 1972 and 1975 Madagascar was under military rule. Socialist political and economic reorganization was instituted in 1975, and a new constitution was implemented later that year for the renamed Democratic Republic of Madagascar. The public grew increasingly dissatisfied with the political and economic conditions of the country, and by the early 1990s the demand for change lead led to a gradual transition to democracy and a free market economy. In 1992 the country adopted a new name, the Republic of Madagascar, along with a new constitution that was later revised in 1998underwent subsequent revision.

Madagascar’s current constitution provides for a president as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of government. The president is elected by popular vote to no more than three five-year terms. He appoints the prime minister and then appoints members of the Council of Ministers with the prime minister’s recommendations. The legislative branch is bicameral and consists of the National Assembly and the Senate. The members of the National Assembly are directly elected for to five-year terms, while the members of the Senate—some who are presidential appointments, others who are elected by local officials—all serve six-year terms.

Local government

Madagascar is divided into six autonomous provinces, which are further divided into regions and communes. Each province is administered by a governor and a provincial council.

Justice

The former Merina state that ruled the island throughout the 19th century had an elaborate system of laws, courts, and justice. The present legal system, however, is based upon French codes and practices. There is a Constitutional High Court, a High Court of Justice, a Supreme Court, a Court of Appeal, criminal tribunals, and tribunals of first instance.

Security

The

armed forces

The army played no direct political role in Madagascar until 1972, although the presence of French army units had bolstered the former government. The French troops were withdrawn in 1973, and the French naval base at Antsiranana was handed over to Madagascar in 1975. The Malagasy armed forces consist of an army, a navy, and an air force. There is also a large paramilitary force, as well as a secret police. Detachments of local police are stationed at the headquarters of each administrative division, as well as in Antananarivo. The whole force is under unified command and falls within the responsibility of the ministry of the interior.

Education

The educational system consists of primary and secondary schools, technical institutes, teacher-training colleges, and a university system. Enrollment at the University of Madagascar (founded in 1955) and its five regional branches has increased dramatically in the late 20th century. There has been an increased use of the Malagasy language in teaching, although some coastal peoples have objected because of the language’s close relationship to the Merina people.

The level both of school attendance and of educational attainment is higher on the plateau than in the coastal areas. Protestant and Roman Catholic missions have been providing education since the 19th century, and the missions continue to educate a large proportion of the schoolchildren, although the government now maintains official schools at all levels and is attempting to phase out private education. In the main towns there are other privately run schools, catering to those unable to enter either government or mission schools. About two-thirds of Madagascar’s population is literate, and the majority of illiterate persons are female.

Health and welfareHealth and welfare

The majority of Malagasy citizens live in rural areas. Conditions of life vary greatly from region to region; some regions, especially those where cash crops are grown, are relatively prosperous and well-linked with the cities, while others—particularly those in the south—are isolated and subject to periodic famine. All regions are dependent on agriculture, and the eastern regions suffer frequently from the devastating cyclones that are a feature of the Malagasy climate. Rural areas generally lack many of the amenities that are available to even the urban poor, including access to electricity, running water, and safe drinking water.

Although infant mortality remains significantly higher than the world average, infant deaths from malaria, which is endemic all over the island, have been much reduced. Debilitating parasitic diseases, such as schistosomiasis, an infection of the bladder or intestines, remain serious and are hard to control, since the parasites’ breeding grounds are the irrigated rice fields and the streams that feed them. Sexually transmitted diseases are also widespread, although Madagascar has one of the lowest rates of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

Malagasy doctors began to practice Western medicine in 1880; the late 19th century, and a medical school was established in Antananarivo in 1897. The health system includes principal and secondary hospitals, dispensaries, and medical centres. Medical personnel include doctors , as well as pharmacists, dentists, midwives, social assistants, visiting nurses, and health assistants. Hospitals However, there is a significantly imbalanced patient-to-doctor ratio, in part because many of those graduating with health care-related degrees from Malagasy institutions have been drawn to other sectors or to more lucrative positions abroad. Furthermore, hospitals and specialists are located mainly in the towns, apart from with the exception of some rural hospitals run by Christian missions, and it is difficult for many Malagasy citizens to access health care facilities. Health insurance and other social benefits are available mainly to better-paid workers and professionals among the employed population.

The extension of health services is largely credited for the steady population increase. Infant mortality remains high, but infant deaths from malaria, which is endemic all over the island, have been cut by half. Debilitating parasitic diseases, such as schistosomiasis, an infection of the bladder or intestines, remain serious and are hard to control since their breeding grounds are the irrigated rice fields and the streams that feed them. Venereal disease is also widespread, especially in its incipient form.

Housing

Houses are typically rectangular and crowned with steeply angled roofs. In the rural areas, most houses are made of either mud and wattle or woven matting supported by poles. In the eastern forest, they are built of interlaced split bamboo and are thatched with palm, while, in . In the south, overlapping upright wooden planks are used for the walls. In On the plateau, rural housing is constructed of earth blocks and thatched roofing, while upper-income and most urban housing consists of two- or three-story homes—typically with the kitchen at the top, living quarters in the middle, and storage below—all surrounded by wide balconies supported by brick columns and crowned with steep tiled roofs. This is the lofty Indonesian style of architecture, transformed by new techniques contributed by the missionaries. The original style survives in the house of King Andrianampoinimerina (reigned 1787–1810) at Ambohimanga and reaches reached its apotheosis pinnacle in the queen’s palace Queen’s Palace built by Jean Laborde in the 19th century; the palace was destroyed by fire in 1995.

The government-sponsored housing authority conducts research into design, materials, and production methods and is seeking to promote inexpensive urban housing, but the problem of overcrowding is expected to increase with continued urban growth.

Education

The existence of a well-established craft of house construction, however, may successfully alleviate housing pressures without resorting to imported materials or relying on foreign enterprise.

Social and economic divisions

Traditionally, society was divided into three castes—the nobles, the freemen, and the former slaves and their descendants. These social distinctions are no longer strict and are manifest only on ceremonial occasions, such as weddings and funerals. They do, however, form the basis of other economic and social distinctions. During the 19th century, the Merina elite conquered the island, established themselves as rulers, and adopted Protestant Christianity; in the late 1800s, some became Roman Catholics. Under French rule in the 20th century, the Merina retained their supremacy in education, business, and the professions, while the remainder of the population retained its sense of “difference” from the dominant peoples and some adopted Roman Catholicism.

A further distinction is made between the peoples of the plateau and those of the coast, who are called côtiers. The coastal peoples feel deprived of the education, power, and wealth that is concentrated on the plateau. Since independence, the government has been composed of côtiers, and a conscious effort has been made to keep the Merina elite of the plateau from power.

Cultural life

The cultural milieu

The culture is basically Indonesian. Arabic and Islamic contributions include an intricate system of divination, or sikidy, educational system consists of primary and secondary schools, technical institutes, teacher-training colleges, and a university system. Education is compulsory between ages 6 and 13. Primary education, which is free, begins at age six and consists of five years of study. Secondary education consists of a four-year cycle of study, followed by a three-year cycle. Universities in Madagascar include the University of Antananarivo (1961), the University of Mahajanga (1977), and the University of Fianarantsoa (1988). There has been an increased use of the Malagasy language in teaching, although some coastal peoples have objected because of the written language’s close relationship to the Merina people.

The level of school attendance and educational attainment is higher on the plateau than in the coastal areas. Protestant and Roman Catholic missions have been providing education since the 19th century, and the missions continue to educate a large proportion of the schoolchildren, although the government maintains official schools at all levels and is attempting to phase out private education. In the main towns there are other privately run schools, which serve those unable to enter either government or mission schools. About two-thirds of women and about three-fourths of men in Madagascar are literate, a trend that indicates a remarkable increase in the country’s overall rate of literacy since the mid-1960s, when less than two-fifths of the population was literate.

Cultural life

Cultural milieu

Malagasy culture is largely composed of Indonesian elements, with other influences evident. Arabic and Islamic contributions include sikidy, an intricate system of divination, and calendrical features, such as the Arabic-derived names of the days of the week, which also apply to the markets held on those days. The coastal areas of the west, north, and south might be expected to show African cultural elements, but, apart from some Bantu words, these are often difficult to identify conclusively.

The state of the Daily life and social customs

The countryside, home to the majority of Malagasy, remains highly traditional, both in its lifestyle and in its political framework, with most decisions still being made by a council of male elders. Young people who resent this domination and see little economic future in their home villages are one of the main sources of the rural-to-urban migration that has fed the growth of Madagascar’s cities.

For rural residents, traditional ceremonies and traveling orators and musicians are a significant source of entertainment. In urban areas, forms of entertainment vary. Some Malagasy join video clubs, which rent and project videos. Action films are very popular, particularly since films are rarely dubbed or subtitled in Malagasy; poorer inhabitants of the cities, however, have reduced access to this type of entertainment.

Typical attire in Madagascar varies according to location and socioeconomic status. Malagasy who live in the countryside or in the poorer or older parts of the cities are more likely to wear traditional attire; for men, this consists of a large shirt and shorts or long pants, while women, particularly those living in the plateau, may wear dresses with gathered skirts. In the coastal regions, women often wear a wrapped skirt with a top; a rectangular shawl, called a lamba, is also worn, especially on ceremonial occasions. The middle classes frequently wear Western dress, and blue jeans are ubiquitous among the youth of the cities. There too, however, women will often wear an abbreviated form of the lamba, even with Western dress.

Most Malagasy, regardless of their degree of “modernity,” continue to observe traditional customs, particularly those connected with the family tomb and ceremonies showing respect for the family’s ancestors. The most common of these, aside from burial, is the famadihana, in which the bones of the ancestors are removed from the family tomb, wrapped in new lamba especially woven for that purpose, and placed again in the tomb after the delivery of a kabary, a traditional “special occasion” speech. The kabary is also utilized at other occasions ranging from weddings to the opening of businesses. Speakers who are able to deliver a good speech, filled with appropriate traditional proverbs, are well paid.

The government encourages the blending of old and new cultural expressions, and a number of seasonal festivals have been promoted, including the Festival of Rice and the Festival of the Trees. Towns, churches, schools, and private groups hold concerts or dances, and in the cities there are cultural associations based on the members’ home districts. Holidays celebrated in Madagascar include those observed by the wider Christian community, such as Easter and Christmas, as well as Independence Day, celebrated on June 26, and the Anniversary of the Republic, observed on December 30.

The arts

The conquest of the plateau peoples by the French and their subsequent assimilation of Western values have deprived them of most of their traditional institutions. In music, however, Western dance and musical instruments have been adapted to Malagasy rhythms. The tube zither, the conch, and the cone drum are of Indonesian origin, while other types of drums and animal horns suggest African influence. Folk music has been retained, but much of the singing consists of Western church hymns and chants adapted to the distinctive Malagasy musical style.

Social and religious life on the plateau centres upon the church congregation, and the cultural emphasis on ancestral tombs is now largely expressed in Christian terms. More time, money, and care are spent on building tombs than houses. The dead are always brought back to their ancestral tombs, however long or far away they have spent their lives. Tombs are opened every few years, the remains taken out and carried in procession with much ceremony, then replaced after being rewrapped in new shrouds, which are still woven from locally produced silk, coloured with natural, herbal dyes. The male peasants wear cloth trousers with tunics reaching to the knees. Women wear cloth dresses but wrap a silk cloth under one arm and over the other shoulder, even when wearing Western fashions.

The coastal peoples have retained more of their traditional customs. Funeral practices are similar to those of the plateau, with local variations of detail. In the eastern forests men wear shorts rather than trousers, and many still wear the short tunic that is woven from raffia fibres. In the far south some older men wear a homespun silk cloth that is wrapped around the waist and between the legs, but most have adopted imported cotton clothes.

Several musicians and ensembles of Malagasy origin, including Tarika, have enjoyed a rise to international popularity.

The Mahafaly have a remarkable wood-carving industry, and their tombs of coloured stones and carved wooden posts are among the most beautiful on the island. The woodworking skills of the Zafimaniry, exemplified by their elaborate carved designs, are also renowned; their knowledge of woodcraft is included by UNESCO among its designations of Intangible Cultural Heritage, intended to safeguard nonmaterial cultural properties. The Betsileo also have a thriving wood-carving industry, making inlaid furniture of valuable hardwoods. They also In addition they produce ornamental cloths of very finely woven raffia and have become specialists in the production of coloured straw hats. Betsileo and Merina women have become experts in in particular are expert in French-style embroidery, sewing, and dressmaking.

The Malagasy language is rich in proverbs, and there is now an extensive written literature including poetry, legend, history, works treating contemporary themes, and scholarly works, as well as contemporary themes. Literary production is aided by an excellent printing industry, for which the Merina have shown a flair since learning it from the London Missionary Society in the 1820s. The peoples of the southeast still preserve their manuscripts sorabe manuscripts—discourses written in Arabic script with on geomancy, astrology, history, and traditional lore—with great reverence; few can be more than 200 years old, although some may be copies of much earlier manuscripts.

Cultural institutions

The government encourages the blending of old and new cultural expressions, and a number of new seasonal festivals have been promoted, including the Festival of Rice, the Festival of the Trees, the Festival of the Party, and Independence Day. Towns, churches, schools, and private groups hold concerts or dances, and in the cities there are cultural associations based on the members’ home districts.The main libraries and museums, located in Antananarivo, include the National Library, the Municipal Library, and the National Archive. There are also the library of the Malagasy Academy, the university library, and the university museum. There are museum collections of Malagasy culture and archaeology; natural . Natural science collections include a zoo with animals specific unique to Madagascar.

A number of Madagascar’s sites of significant cultural and natural value have been designated UNESCO World Heritage sites. Among these are the Royal Hill of Ambohimanga, located near Antananarivo, which contains a royal city, burial ground, and a number of sacred sites; the Rainforests of the Atsinanana, made up of six national parks located in the eastern portion of the island; and the Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve, located in the west of the island, which, with its forests, swamps, lakes, and peaks, serves as an important habitat for some of Madagascar’s rare and endangered wildlife.

Sports and recreation

The people of Madagascar enjoy playing many sports, six of which form the core of the country’s school- and amateur team-based competitive system: football (soccer), boxing, athletics (track and field), judo, women’s basketball, and women’s tennis. Malagasy athletes have especially excelled in the latter last sport especially, with two sisters, Dally Randriantefy and Natacha Randriantefy, competing internationally in such events as the U.S. Open and the Olympics. Olympic Games. Madagascar made its Olympic debut in 1964 at the Tokyo Games. The country has also sent national teams to the African Games, and Malagasy athletes have also participated as members of pan-African teams at the World Cup in Athletics, and Madagascar has sent national teams to the All-Africa Games.Madagascar’s coastline .

Outdoor sports enthusiasts and nature lovers alike are drawn to Madagascar’s coastline, which is almost 2,500 miles (4,000 km) in length. Much of it the coast is bordered with fine beaches and calm lagoons overlooking offshore coral reefs and sandbars. The , and the warm, clear waters are filled with fish and crustaceans. This a rich marine life, which, combined with the island’s unique and diverse terrestrial plant and animal life, has made Madagascar a popular place for nature lovers and outdoor sports enthusiasts.

The press and broadcasting

There are helped Madagascar garner widespread appreciation for its natural wealth.

Media and publishing

There are a number of daily and other newspapers published in French and Malagasy, and a government gazette is also published. The island receives radio, television, and telephone service.the most popular of which include Gazetiko, La Gazette de la Grand Île, and Midi Madagasikara. Taratra is the national news agency. The island’s radio and television channels, which broadcast mainly in French and Malagasy, operate with relative freedom. In 1990 legislation was passed ensuring the freedom of the press.

History

Early history

Archaeological investigations in the 20th century indicated that human settlers reached Madagascar about AD700 CE. Although the huge island lies geographically close to Bantu-speaking Africa, its language, Malagasy, belongs to the distant Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. There are , nonetheless , a number of Bantu words in the language, as well as some phonetic and grammatical modifiers of Bantu origin. Bantu elements exist in every dialect of Malagasy and appear to have been established for some time.

As a people, the Malagasy represent a unique blend of Asian and African cultural features found nowhere else in the world. Although Asian features predominate on the wholeAsian features predominate, African ancestry is prevalent present and African influences in Malagasy material and nonmaterial culture are widespread. The most plausible theory for this circumstance is that the seafarers from Indonesia who settled Madagascar initially arrived by way of eastern Africa and the Comoros after these areas had already been colonized by Bantu-speaking Africans. There is also some evidence that Bantu speakers inhabited portions of western Madagascar prior to the 17th century, only to eventually become completely assimilated into Malagasy culture. Even before AD 1000, important Afro-Arab influences entered Madagascar and spread through much of the island. Apart from the colonial French, settlers from overseas appear to have stopped coming to Madagascar by roughly 1600.

Madagascar in the 16th and early 17th centuries

evident; the history and precise nature of this relationship, however, remains a matter of debate.

Madagascar from 1500 to c. 1650

Much of Madagascar was populated by internal migration before the beginning of the 16th century, giving the theretofore empty lands their tompontany (original inhabitants, or “masters of the soil”). Yet politically the island remained fragmented. Most of the nearly 20 ethnic groups that make up the modern Malagasy population did not attain any form of “national” consciousness until new political ideas arrived from abroad in the 1500s and began to spread through throughout the island. A host of written European accounts from the 16th and early 17th centuries fail to reveal any large state or empire, and few of the Malagasy oral traditions collected since the mid-19th century go back that far in time.

Still, small local states were found at many points along the coast visited by European ships. The capitals were almost always located near river mouths, territorial domains were invariably small, and rulers were independent of one another. Alliances and wars were usually short-lived affairs involving limited economic objectives and little loss of life, and they seldom led to any border adjustments. Economies were pastoral or agricultural, often a mixture of both, and there were no radical differences in wealth. In some areas the rulers appeared to be absolute, while in others elders and priests had the preponderant influence. In one area in southeastern Madagascar, later to become known as Fort-Dauphin (site of the French East India Company fort of that name; present-day Tôlan̈aro), early Europeans believed they had found a Muslim state in existence among the Antanosy people of the region. It was ruled by a “Moorish king” and had an aristocracy with privileges deriving presumably from Islam. Their collective name was Zafindraminia, or descendants “descendants of Raminia,” the ultimate great ancestor.

In the first quarter of the 16th century, Portuguese navigators also reported a number of coastal towns in northern Madagascar that were architecturally similar to Kilwa, a once important entrepôt in what is today Tanzania. The towns belonged to an Afro-Arab commercial network in the western Indian Ocean which that undoubtedly predated the 16th century. At the town of Vohemar, once the island’s northeastern centre of international trade, the blend of Malagasy and Afro-Arab customs produced an arts-and-crafts tradition that was quite original.

Portuguese explorers who visited the Matitana River valley in southeastern Madagascar witnessed the arrival of a group of Afro-Arabs (“Moors from Malindi”) between 1507 and 1513. Within one or two generations the descendants of this group had intermarried and merged with the local tompontany to form another group known as the Antemoro. By the 1630s the Antemoro had formed a theocratic state, which was the only state in Madagascar at the time to possess written texts. Using the Arabic alphabet, the texts were written in the Malagasy language and were both religious and secular in nature. Proximity to Islam became a major criterion among the Antemoro for the right to rule, and there is little doubt that the four Antemoro sacerdotal clans were far closer to the Muslim faith than were the Zafindraminia of the Fort-Dauphin area. In time, Antemoro holy men, traveling far and wide within Madagascar, came to influence other Malagasy in both religion and government.

Political evolution from 1650 to 1810

Unknown to the early coastal visitors from Europe, new and historically pivotal dynasties also were beginning to form in southwestern and central Madagascar toward the mid-16th century. Two of them, the Maroserana in the southwest and the Andriana-Merina in central Madagascar, would go on to create vast empires, each with its own apex and decline, between about 1650 and 1896, the year the French annexed Madagascar. While the Maroserana were able to establish their rulers over several south-central peoples, the most outstanding achievement of the dynasty was the creation of two states in western Madagascar, Menabé and Boina. These states later combined into the Sakalava empire, which controlled most of western Madagascar and several adjacent areas deep inland.

The Sakalava were originally a group of warriors who came into contact with the Maroserana before 1660, the year the Maroserana ruler, King Andriandahifotsy, founded Menabé. Ultimately, “Sakalava citizenship” was extended to hundreds of west-coast clans as the original Sakalava warriors and their descendants intermarried and merged with them. A sense of unity also came from religion, as the Maroserana royals , upon death , became the sacred ancestors of all Sakalava. The Sakalava empire was ultimately weakened by internal power struggles for the throne, by attempts to substitute Islam for the ancestral cult, and, after 1810, by wars with the Merina, a people of the central plateau already on the way to an empire.

The Betsimisaraka confederation, a quasi-state concurrent with the late Sakalava empire, was a brief but successful attempt in the 18th century to unite the coastal peoples of Madagascar’s eastern littoral. Ruled by Ratsimilaho, son of an English pirate and a Malagasy princess, the viable confederation extended along more than 200 miles of coastline. After Ratsimilaho’s death in 1750, the confederation began an abrupt, though prolonged, disintegration.

The Merina kingdom (Imerina) was founded toward the end of the 16th century in the swampy Ikopa valley on the central plateau. Antananarivo (Tananarive) became its capital. In the 18th century Imerina was divided among four warring kings. One of them, Andrianampoinimerina, who reigned 1787–1810, reunited the kingdom about 1797. He gave it uniform laws and administration and sold slaves to the French on the coast, using the guns he got in return to conquer his neighbours, the Betsileo. Under Andrianampoinimerina, Merina society was divided into a ruling noble class (Andriana), a class of freemen commoners (Hova), and a slave class (Andevo). At Andrianampoinimerina’s death, he left his son a single political ambition: “The sea will be the boundary of my rice field” (i.e., of his kingdom).

Early European contacts

Madagascar is mentioned in the writings of Marco Polo, but the first European known to have visited the island was Diogo Dias, a Portuguese navigator, in 1500. It was called the Isle of St. Lawrence by the Portuguese, who frequently raided Madagascar during the 16th century, attempting to destroy the incipient Muslim settlements there. Other European nations also invaded; in 1642 the French established Fort-Dauphin in the southeast and maintained it until 1674. One of their governors, Étienne de Flacourt, wrote the first substantial description of the island. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Madagascar was frequented by European pirates (among them Captain William Kidd) who preyed upon shipping in the Indian Ocean.

In the 18th century the Mascarene Islands to the east were colonized by the French with the help of Malagasy slaves. Two attempts at fortified settlements failed—one at Fort-Dauphin by the comte de Modave, the other at the Bay of Antongil by Baron Benyowski. However, French trading settlements prospered, notably at Tamatave.

The kingdom of Madagascar

Formation of the kingdom (1810–61)

Andrianampoinimerina’s son, Radama I (1810–28), allied himself with the British governor of the nearby island of Mauritius, Sir Robert Farquhar. In order to prevent reoccupation of the east coast by the French, Farquhar supported Radama’s annexation of the area by supplying him with weapons and advisers and giving him the title “King of Madagascar.” At the same time, Radama agreed to cooperate with Britain’s new campaign to end the slave trade. In 1817 he captured the east-coast town of Tamatave, from which he launched annual expeditions against the coastal populations. He eventually conquered almost the entire east coast, the northern part of the island, and most of the two large Sakalava kingdoms. Only the south and a part of the west remained independent. The French retained only the small island of Sainte-Marie. In addition, Radama invited European workmenworkers, and the London Missionary Society spread Christianity and influenced the adoption of a Latin alphabet for the Malagasy language. Radama died prematurely in 1828; he was succeeded by his widow, Ranavalona I, who reversed his policy of Europeanization. She expelled Christian missionaries and persecuted Malagasy converts. A few Europeans maintained external trade and local manufacture, but eventually they also were expelled. The British and French launched an expedition against Ranavalona but were repulsed at Tamatave in 1845. By the time of her death (1861), Madagascar was isolated from European influence.

Outside influences (1861–95)

Ranavalona was succeeded by her son, Radama II, who readmitted the foreigners. English Protestants and French Roman Catholics vied for supremacy, while businessmen business proprietors obtained excessive concessions. This policy led to Radama’s overthrow by the Merina oligarchy in 1863. The head of the army, Rainilaiarivony, a Hova, became prime minister and remained in power by marrying three queens in succession: Rasoherina, Ranavalona II, and Ranavalona III. He embarked on a program of modernization, and in 1869 he caused Protestantism to be adopted and suppressed the traditional Malagasy religion. European-style ministries were created and governors set up in the provinces. Villages were supervised by former soldiers. Education was declared obligatory and placed under the direction of the Christian missions. A code of laws was worked out that combined ancient customs with such Western practices as monogamy.

The French began to extend their influence over the Sakalava, and the first “Franco-Merina” war (1883–85) ended with an ambiguous treaty: France was given a settlement at Diégo-Suarez and a resident at Antananarivo, but the institution of a protectorate was temporarily avoided. The succeeding period was marked by disorder and internal strife. In 1890 the British recognized Madagascar as a French protectorate, but Rainilaiarivony refused to submit to French suzerainty. In January 1895, French troops landed at Majunga, and on September Sept. 30, 1895, they occupied Antananarivo. The prime minister was exiled. The queen signed a treaty recognizing the protectorate and was maintained on the throne as a figurehead.

The French period

The colonial period (1896–1945)

French occupation soon extended to the entire part of the island conquered by the Merina. But, in Imerina itself, armed guerrilla bands (the Menalamba, or “Red Togas”) resisted modernization and French rule. The French parliament voted the annexation of the island on August Aug. 6, 1896, and sent General Gen. Joseph-Simon Gallieni first as military commander, then as governor-general. Slavery was abolished. Gallieni put down the insurrection, subdued the oligarchy, and sent the queen into exile on February Feb. 27, 1897. In 1898 the old Merina kingdom was pacified; . Gallieni then undertook the difficult task of subjugating the independent peoples. Two insurrections, in the northwest (1898) and in the southeast (1904), were quickly put down, and, when he left the island in 1905, unification had been achieved. The Merina governors had been replaced by French administrators, with leaders taken from local peoples. The teaching of French in the schools was made compulsory. Customs duties favoured French products, though Malagasy enterprise was also encouraged. The Tamatave-Antananarivo railroad was begun, roads were built, and a modern health service was inaugurated.

The economic development of the island continued under Gallieni’s successors. The railroad and its branch lines branchlines were completed in 1913. A second line, the Fianarantsoa-Manakara, was finished in 1935. Automobile roads increased after 1920, airlines after 1936. The cities and seaports were built up and equipped, and loans were contracted in France. Exports were confined to agricultural products and raw materials for industry. Rice, cassava (manioc), rubber, raffia, meat, and graphite predominated at first. Between World Wars I and II, coffee, vanilla, cloves, and tobacco, introduced by the Europeans and then taken up by native planters, became more important. Three-quarters of all trade was with France. Material aspects of life became Westernized, especially in the cities, and half the population became Christianized.

In 1915 a nationalist secret society, the Vy Vato Sakelika (VVS), was outlawed. In 1920 a teacher, Jean Ralaimongo, launched a campaign in the press to give the Malagasy “subjects” French citizenship and to make Madagascar a French département. When France failed to respond to the demand for assimilation, the movement turned toward nationalism. In 1940 Madagascar, though hesitant at first, rallied to the Vichy government. Then came a blockade, occupation by the British and South Africans (1942), and finally a return to Free France.

The French Union (1946–58)

In the elections of 1945, two Malagasy nationalists were elected to the French parliament. The constitution of 1946, creating the French Union, made Madagascar an overseas territory of the French Republic, with representatives to the Paris assemblies and a local assembly at Antananarivo. Six provincial assemblies were created later. The political struggle erupted into violence on March 30, 1947, with a full-scale insurrection in eastern Madagascar. The leaders of the Democratic Movement for Malagasy Renewal (Mouvement Démocratique de la Rénovation Malgache), including the three representatives to the French national assembly, were outlawed. While an official count of lives lost in the revolt records about 11,000 dead, it is certain that thousands more of the Malagasy populace perished from famine, cold, and psychological misery while hiding from both the French army and the insurgents in the island’s inhospitable tropical forests.

A period of political inactivity followed until the 1950s. After the Overseas Territories Law of 1956 gave Madagascar an executive elected by the local assembly, Vice-Premier Philibert Tsiranana founded the Social Democratic Party (Parti Social Démocrate; PSD), which, though most of its members were non-Merina from the coastal areas, offered to cooperate with the Merina. In 1958 France agreed to let its overseas territories decide their own fate. In a referendum on September 28, Madagascar voted for autonomy within the French Community. On October Oct. 14, 1958, the autonomous Malagasy Republic was proclaimed; Tsiranana headed the provisional government.

The Malagasy First Republic (1958–72)

The opposition regrouped under the name of Congress Party for the Independence of Madagascar (Ankoton’ny Kongresy ny-Fahaleovantena MalagasyAntokon’ny Kongresin’ny Fahaleovantenan’i Madagasikara; AKFM), which included both Protestant Merina dissidents and communists. Antananarivo was this the party’s stronghold; it also had some support in the provinces but, owing to the electoral system established by the PSD, held only three seats in the legislature.

The PSD also settled the provincial question: executive power in the local assemblies was vested in a minister delegated by the central government. Tsiranana was elected president of the republic, and he was instrumental in obtaining its independence on June 26, 1960. Tsiranana and the PSD remained in power until 1972. Under his regime, successive development plans were inspired, according to Tsiranana, by a “grassroots socialism” and were aimed at improving the lot of the peasantry. In foreign policy , the bond with France remained strong, and close relations were established with the United States, West Germany, Taiwan, South Africa, and other anticommunist powers.

Although Tsiranana was reelected in January 1972, but political and labour unrest and culminated in an uprising known as the May 1972 revolution. This, coupled with his own poor health, led him to appoint Major General Maj. Gen. Gabriel Ramanantsoa as prime minister with full powers of government, and the First Republic came to an end.

Transition

A plebiscite on October Oct. 8, 1972, confirmed Ramanantsoa as head of government; there was no longer a president after Tsiranana resigned on October 11. The new head of government initiated radically different foreign and domestic policies. Under new agreements with France, French military and naval forces were removed from the island, and all French citizens were to be treated as aliens. Ties were established with the Soviet Union and other communist nations, and the country was withdrawn from the Franc Zone. In 1973 a rural reorganization program—in which elected committees would sell produce to state-owned companies—was initiated, and the government began to take control of joint French-Malagasy organizations.

In the wake of political and social unrest, on February Feb. 5, 1975, Ramanantsoa handed power over to a former minister of the interior, Colonel Col. Richard Ratsimandrava. He assumed the titles of president and prime minister but was assassinated six days later. A military directorate was then established; it dissolved on June 15, after naming Lieutenant Commander Lieut. Comdr. Didier Ratsiraka president and head of the Revolutionary Council. A referendum on December Dec. 21, 1975, approved Ratsiraka as president under a new constitution that set up the Democratic Republic of Madagascar.Ratsiraka,

The Second Republic (1975–92)

Ratsiraka was sworn in as president on January Jan. 4, 1976, continued the policies begun by Ramanantsoa. He nationalized the banks, insurance companies, and the nation’s mineral resources and solidified his nation’s ties with the communist powers. The formation in 1976 of the . He proceeded to solidify his political control and to continue the economic policies of the Ramanantsoa government, including the nationalization of banks, industries, and services such as the distribution of gasoline and movies, moves that largely affected French interests. He also continued to cultivate closer links with communist countries—a policy he had pursued as foreign minister under Ramanantsoa—and declared Madagascar a Marxist republic; such moves solidified the support of many of Madagascar’s left-wing parties, including the AKFM. In addition, Ratsiraka created a regime party, the Vanguard of the Malagasy Revolution (Avant-Garde de la Révolution Malagache; AREMA), as the core of the broader National Front for the Defense of the Revolution—a coalition of formerly banned political parties headed by Ratsiraka—further increased the president’s control of the government and of Madagascar’s political life.

Ratsiraka was reelected without opposition in 1983. Under the banner of scientific socialism he further extended government control over the economy. Despite several loans from the International Monetary Fund to help keep it afloat, however, the country’s economy declined drastically. In 1986 Ratsiraka reversed the country’s course completely. Laws were altered across the board to allow for a free market economy. In June 1990 France responded by forgiving Madagascar its huge debt of four billion French francs.

Political unrest continued to plague Madagascar in the 1990s and 2000s, as it had for previous decades. Protests led to multiparty elections, and Albert Zafy became president in 1993Revolution (Front National pour la Défense de la Révolution; FNDR). Only parties admitted to this umbrella organization were allowed to participate in political activities.

Ratsiraka’s years in power were marked by quarrels within the FNDR, by unrest outside, and by deep-seated economic difficulties. By 1980 the Malagasy government had approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan to meet the gap in its balance of payments, and by 1981 it was negotiating for funds to cover payments on its growing international debt. These moves also led to a rapprochement with France, whose government and banks held much of the debt and served as Madagascar’s advocate with other creditors. In spite of the turmoil and economic difficulties, Ratsiraka was reelected president in November 1982.

In his second term in office, Ratsiraka continued to be faced with economic and political challenges. He came under increasing criticism from Madagascar’s powerful Council of Malagasy Churches, and opposition among the capital’s youth manifested in the form of participation in kung fu clubs. These self-defense organizations—inspired by the films of Bruce Lee and a resurgent sense of Asian identity among the Malagasy of the plateau—emerged during the period of economic hardship of the early 1980s and recruited members from a relatively wide base of support that included the unemployed and uneducated, as well as those from middle- and lower-income groups. The martial arts movement had some 10,000 members by 1984 and was rumoured also to have adherents within the army. In response to what was viewed as a growing threat, in late 1984 the government banned the practice of martial arts, which sparked violent protest. In mid-1985 Ratsiraka felt secure enough to take action against the kung fu clubs directly: on the night of July 31, 1985, the army attacked the movement’s headquarters, killing its leader and many others.

Under pressure from the IMF and the World Bank, the Malagasy government embarked on a program of privatization, devaluation of the currency, and cancellation of many government subsidies. The privatizations largely benefited members of the president’s circle, many of whom were able to acquire businesses on advantageous terms. However, the moves were resented by the bureaucracy, which faced a loss of employment, and by the general population, which bore most of the economic hardship.

In February 1989 the main opposition groups joined to form an alliance, and people and organizations that had formerly aligned with the regime began increasingly to withdraw their support. Although Ratsiraka was reelected in March 1989, the election results gave rise to a round of protests that would eventually lead to his ouster and the end of the Second Republic. A call by the Council of Malagasy Churches issued in August 1989 for the removal of socialist vocabulary from the constitution, as well as for an end to the FNDR’s monopoly on political life, received wide support.

The government responded with a series of conciliatory gestures. At first the membership of the FNDR was expanded, and then, in March 1990, the constitution was amended to allow the formation of political groups that were not members of the Front. Another opposition alliance, the Vital Forces (Forces Vives; FV), was created under the leadership of Albert Zafy, a professor at the University of Madagascar. Demonstrations favouring constitutional change were held, and discussions about a possible revision of the constitution continued without yielding any agreement. In June 1991 the FV announced the creation of a provisional countergovernment; this was followed by more demonstrations and a general strike. In August the presidential guard fired upon a demonstration in front of the presidential palace; several people were killed, and others, including Zafy, were wounded. Important aid donors, France among them, called for an end to the instability. A power-sharing agreement between Ratsiraka and the opposition was reached in October and opened the way for negotiations on a new constitution. Under the terms of the power-sharing agreement, Ratsiraka continued as president and Zafy took office as head of a newly created High State Authority.

With the formal ratification of the power-sharing agreement, institutions for the transitional period, including a national forum charged with drafting a constitution for a Third Republic, were put in place. During its deliberations, demonstrations by Ratsiraka supporters arguing for a federal constitution became so violent that the forum was forced to move to a military camp.

The Third Republic

Zafy’s presidency and impeachment

In February 1993 Zafy was elected the first president of the Third Republic. His term of office was marked by a continual instability that stemmed from several factors. First, his coalition of support was composed of several distinct party formations, each of which was headed by someone with more political experience than Zafy. Furthermore, Zafy’s own supporters constituted only a minority in the coalition. Moreover, the National Assembly was extremely fragmented: the largest body of deputies was composed of independents with no party affiliation, many of whom had been elected on the basis of their personal appeal. Even the parties that were represented in the assembly were themselves loose agglomerations. In addition, Zafy’s election had disturbed an informal balance between people of the plateau and the côtiers, the people of the coast, in which the people of the plateau had largely dominated the public administration and the professions while those from coastal groups had dominated politics. With the exception of the short-lived Ramanantsoa and Ratsimandrava regimes, the Malagasy president had always been drawn from a coastal group. Under Zafy’s regime, resentment of this shift of balance led to continued opposition from Ratsiraka supporters in the form of a demand for a federal state.

Madagascar’s pronounced economic difficulties also continued during Zafy’s administration. Economic survival—to say nothing of development—depended on aid from foreign donors, most notably the World Bank and the IMF. However, this placed Zafy at odds with one of his sources of political support, a section of the Malagasy elite that was opposed to dependency on foreign grants, especially when these were made conditional on certain actions on the part of the Malagasy government. They were particularly opposed to the conditions imposed by the World Bank and the IMF for continued privatizations and for further reductions in the size of government and in government subsidies for consumption, measures that would have harmed both the bureaucracy and the urban poor, two groups that had formed the basis of Zafy’s anti-Ratsiraka coalition. In lieu of accepting the IMF’s conditions for the resumption of aid, Zafy unsuccessfully sought private sources of investment.

Zafy attempted to strengthen his position through a referendum intended to allow the president, rather than the National Assembly, to name the prime minister. Although Zafy subsequently appointed a prime minister and a government more to his liking, opposition to his regime and consequent instability continued. By 1996 the opposition to Zafy had reached the point of street demonstrations and demands that he cease playing an active role as president; strikes reminiscent of those that had brought down the Ratsiraka regime continued. In July 1996 the National Assembly voted to impeach

him for various constitutional violations. Despite this, Zafy declared himself a candidate for presidential elections held in November 1996, but he was narrowly defeated by Ratsiraka. During this term as president, Ratsiraka oversaw significant constitutional revisions.The presidential election in 2001 brought forth the most serious political crisis

Zafy; in September the Constitutional High Court removed him from office and appointed an interim president charged with the task of organizing a presidential election.

Ratsiraka’s return to power

The results of the first round of the subsequent presidential election led to a runoff election between Zafy and Ratsiraka on Dec. 29, 1996. Although Ratsiraka won the election, abstention was high and the total number of valid votes represented only about half the electorate. Ratsiraka’s victory did not signify an end to Madagascar’s political turmoil: because of the narrowness of Ratsiraka’s margin, Zafy and his supporters first contested the election results and then proceeded to hold protests and demonstrations. On Feb. 4, 1998, the National Assembly voted to impeach Ratsiraka, but the vote fell short of the two-thirds majority required for a successful conviction. That same year, Ratsiraka oversaw significant constitutional revisions, including the provision for Madagascar to become a federal state, with a large measure of autonomy conferred on the six existing provinces. The constitutional revisions also strengthened the power of the president.

Both the country’s economic prospects and Ratsiraka’s political situation improved in mid-1999 with the signing of an agreement that guaranteed the release of further credits by the IMF, a measure that not only provided much-needed funds but also cleared the way for the release of other forms of aid and the reopening of foreign investment.

Political crisis and renewal

The 2001 presidential election brought one of the most serious political crises in the country’s history since independence. Although the

election results did not indicate that any one candidate received

official vote tally gave no candidate the necessary number of votes to declare victory outright, Ratsiraka’s main opponent, Marc Ravalomanana, claimed that he was the clear winner of the December election and that the results had been tampered with. Ravalomanana’s supporters staged numerous demonstrations as well as a national strike that lasted several weeks. In February 2002 Ravalomanana declared himself president and began establishing his administration, despite the fact that the international community did not recognize him as the legitimate leader of the country, and Ratsiraka still claimed the presidency. His supporters fought with those of Ratsiraka,

with

each side eventually controlling various sections of the country. In late April the country’s Constitutional High Court declared Ravalomanana the winner of the disputed election, but fighting between the two sides did not cease until midsummer, when Ravalomanana’s forces were able to take control over areas previously held by Ratsiraka’s supporters. Ravalomanana secured recognition by the United States and France in late June and early July, respectively, and Ratsiraka fled the country shortly thereafter.

The political crisis weakened the country’s economy and overall stability. Ravalomanana promptly addressed the situation, implementing economic reforms and working tirelessly to entice foreign investors back to the country; his efforts won praise from foreign donors and international organizations, and in 2004 the IMF and the World Bank announced plans to write off nearly half of Madagascar’s outstanding debt.

Although Ravalomanana was gradually recognized by the international community as the legitimate leader of Madagascar,

but

he was still

had to deal

faced with periodic unrest at home, including

a

failed coup

attempt

attempts in 2003 and 2006. In mid-2006 Ravalomanana announced that presidential elections would be held ahead of schedule in December of that year. Although some concerns over irregularities were noted, Ravalomanana won reelection to the presidency in December elections generally considered free and fair by international observers.

. A travel guide that provides a good overview of the geography and history of Madagascar is David Andrew and Gemma Pitcher, Madagascar & Comoros, 6th ed. (2008), a Lonely Planet guide.

Geography

The natural history of the island is studied in R. Battistini and G. Richard-Vindard (eds.), Biogeography and Ecology in Madagascar (1972); M.D. Jenkins (ed.), Madagascar: An Environmental Profile (1987); and Alison Jolly, Philippe Oberlé, and Roland Albignac (eds.), Madagascar (1984), the last

with

having a focus on conservation.

On animals and plants, see

Animals are studied in Nick Garbutt, Mammals of Madagascar, rev. ed. (2007); Kathryn Lasky and Christopher G. Knight, Shadows in the Dawn: The Lemurs of Madagascar (1998); and Olivier Langrand, Guide to the Birds of Madagascar, trans. from French (1990). Other useful publications include Theodor Haltenorth and Helmut Diller, A Field Guide to the Mammals of Africa Including Madagascar (1980; originally published in German, 1977; also published as The Collins Field Guide to the Mammals of Africa Including Madagascar, 1988); Ian Tattersall, The Primates of Madagascar (1982), a scholarly work with analysis of unique habitats; P. Charles-Dominique et al., Nocturnal Malagasy Primates: Ecology, Physiology, and Behavior (1980);

Olivier Langrand, Guide to the Birds of Madagascar, trans. from French (1990);

and H. Perrier De La Bathie, Flora of Madagascar, trans. from French (1981).

People and culture

Economy

Madagascar, Recent Economic Developments and Future Prospects (1980), is a World Bank country study focusing on economic conditions. Broader analysis is found in Frederic L. Pryor, The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity, and Growth: Malawi and Madagascar (1990).

Administration and social conditionsFor analyses of political situations influencing the development of the area, see

Collections of anthropological studies focusing on Malagsy people and culture include Karen Middleton (ed.), Ancestors, Power, and History in Madagascar (1999); Gillian Feeley-Harnik, A Green Estate: Restoring Independence in Madagascar (1991); John Mack, Madagascar: Island of the Ancestors (1986); Maurice Bloch, Ritual, History, and Power: Selected Papers in Anthropology (1989); and Conrad Phillip Kottak et al. (eds.), Madagascar: Society and History (1986). More specific studies include Denis Rolland, Music of Madagascar (1999); and

Pierre Verin, The History of Civilization in North Madagascar (1986; originally published in French, 1972), are both interdisciplinary studies of the diverse indigenous peoples of the area. Other studies of Malagasy peoples include Richard Huntington, Gender and Social Structure in Madagascar (1988); Maurice Bloch, Placing the Dead: Tombs, Ancestral Villages and Kinship Organization in Madagascar (1971); Marcelle Urbain-Faublée, L’Art malgache (1963), on Malagasy art; and Leonard Fox (ed. and trans.), Hainteny: The Traditional Poetry of Madagascar (1990).

Sources that provide useful studies of the Malagasy economy include Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Profile: Madagascar (annual), which gives up-to-date information on the country’s economy, resources, and industry; World Bank, Education and Training in Madagascar: Toward a Policy Agenda for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction (2002), which is a useful study; and Frederic L. Pryor, Malaŵi and Madagascar (1990), which focuses on economic systems and long-term policies.

Works that explore the administration and social conditions of Madagascar are Philip M. Allen, Madagascar: Conflicts of Authority in the Great Island (1995); Maureen Covell, Madagascar: Politics, Economics, and Society (1987); and O. Mannoni, Prospero and Caliban

: The Psychology of Colonization (

(1956, reissued 1990; originally published in French,

1984

1950),

exploring

which explores the psychological

meaning

aspects of

colonial dependency of Madagascar for its peoples

the colonial system.

History

Developments up to the end of the 18th century are surveyed in Raymond K. Kent, Early Kingdoms in Madagascar, 1500–1700 (1970). Hubert Deschamps, Histoire de Madagascar, 4th rev. ed. (1972), is invaluable as the first historical synthesis. For broader chronological scope leading into the 20th century, see Mervyn Brown, Madagascar Rediscovered: A History From from Early Times to Independence (1978); Raymond K. Kent, From Madagascar to the Malagasy Republic (1962, reprinted 1976); and Raymond K. Kent (ed.), Madagascar in History: Essays from the 1970s (1979), are useful resources. An overview of later events is Philip M. Allen and Maureen Covell, Historical Dictionary of Madagascar (2005).